Small Towns Compared

I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that some things that we are used to having easy access to – grocery stores, Starbucks, etc. – are not so readily available near the small town we were living in in Mexico. There are usually local alternatives of course, but I wrote about it to give some idea of what life was like for an American living in Mexico versus living at home in California.

Since leaving Mexico in January, we have lived in a couple of small towns in the US. I can now report that many of those same conveniences are much less convenient in small-town America than in the suburbs of California. Interestingly, in some cases the options available in the US are more limited than they are in Mexico.

Here are some of the key places I thought of as either “essential” for everyday living, or something that we “expect” to be available nearby. I included distances in both miles and minutes, for each of the three small towns we’ve lived in over the past year. The ones with an asterisk (*) are the “winners” for that category.

Beginning with Mexico, here are the distances from our small town there:

* Hospital – 14 miles / 25 minutes

Starbucks – 35 miles / 70 minutes

Full service grocery store – 18 miles / 29 minutes

* Convenience grocery store – 0.1 miles / 2 minutes walking

Home Depot – 36 miles / 72 minutes

Name brand fast food – 19 miles / 31 minutes

* ATM – 0.7 miles / 4 minutes

Walmart – 19 miles / 31 minutes

Costco – 90 miles / 114 minutes

Notes – Even though our town in Mexico has only three winning categories, it is the only small town we’ve been in where living without a car would be an option. The three winning categories are critical ones – medical care, cash and groceries. At least 90% of what someone would need for daily living are available within walking distance from our house, i.e., less than a mile away. In fact, the entire town isn’t much more than a mile across, so all neighbors are within walking distance as well. For items too large to carry, delivery is often available for little or no charge. For items not available in town, there are frequent buses into a city of 99,000 population, about half an hour away. This city does not have a Home Depot or Starbucks, but it has Walmart, a full size grocery store, and pretty much anything else you would need, including alternatives to Home Depot and Starbucks.

After leaving Mexico, we lived in Kentucky for a couple of months. Here are the distances from our place in Kentucky:

Hospital – 20 miles / 32 minutes

* Starbucks – 20 miles / 31 minutes

* Full service grocery store – 9 miles / 16 minutes

Convenience grocery store – 9 miles / 16 minutes

Home Depot – 34 miles / 45 minutes

* Name brand fast food – 9 miles / 16 minutes

ATM – 9 miles / 16 minutes

* Walmart – 10 miles / 19 minutes

* Costco – 50 miles / 56 minutes

Notes – Even though Kentucky appears to be the winner with 5 winning categories, nothing is available any closer than the main town, which is 9 miles away. There is nothing available within walking distance, and no public transportation out where we were. There are just three neighbors within walking distance, and not all of these three live there year round. We were between two large cities, 45-60 minutes away, where we could find multiple options for anything we needed or wanted.

Most recently, we have been living in a small town in the hills of northwestern Massachusetts. Here are the distances from our place in Massachusetts:

Hospital – 24 miles / 39 minutes

Starbucks – 33 miles / 54 minutes

Full service grocery store – 21 miles / 32 minutes

Convenience grocery store – 4.6 miles / 12 minutes

* Home Depot – 21 miles / 32 minutes

Name brand fast food – 21 miles / 32 minutes

ATM – 18 miles / 27 minutes

Walmart – 24 miles / 40 minutes

Costco – 56 miles / 66 minutes

Notes – We are currently living in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts, a popular destination for skiing, water activities, and summer homes, especially for people in the Boston and New York areas. However, as you can see with it winning only one category, it is very remote. There are probably a dozen neighbors within walking distance, but nothing else is walkable and there is no public transportation. It’s similar to Kentucky in that most things are available in the nearest town, except that here the nearest town is 21 miles away, on winding mountain roads.

So which location is the winner?

It depends on what you are looking for. Mexico was super convenient for daily needs. We could visit neighbors and purchase nearly anything we wanted without any need for a car. In Kentucky, Walmart and a full service grocery store were 9-10 miles away, making it relatively convenient. In Massachusetts, the distances are generally much further; however, there are various nearby neighbors and there is also a sense of people watching out for each other. We can’t really say we’ve picked a winner. We have thoroughly enjoyed each place we’ve stayed. Perhaps we will get to know additional towns and their people in the future.

Our Budget

We retired in July 2017 and have been traveling ever since. One of our reasons for retiring early was that we felt there were ways we could live significantly cheaper than we had been while employed.

Initially, this meant moving to Mexico. We have a house available to us in Mexico where we can live rent-free*. It’s not a completely free living arrangement, since there are the other usual expenses associated with living anywhere, primarily utilities, but these expenses are lower in Mexico than they are in the US. The house is not in a tourist area, so food costs and other living expenses are not inflated. Aside from the cost of traveling to Mexico, the actual cost of living there is very reasonable – at least it is for someone who has savings and pension income in dollars; it’s not as easy for locals who earn pesos.

After almost five months in Mexico we discovered another living arrangement that would allow us to continue to live at very low cost and NOT limit us to living in Mexico, and that is house sitting. Our experience house sitting is described in more detail in other posts.

Now that we have nearly a year of experience, we have some expense data that we can share. We have been tracking every expense for eight months; we did not track our first two months, as we were traveling across the US and then in transition mode and we didn’t feel that period would be representative of ongoing expenses.

Our expense tracking begins with our first full month in Mexico, September 2017, and continues through April 2018. Our average monthly living cost, with just a few exceptions**, is $1,880/month. This includes four months in Mexico and four months in the US, and it includes everyday living expenses as well as travel costs.

I won’t deny that we are cautious about our expenses, e.g., we are not traveling first class, but at the same time we honestly do not feel deprived. The $1,880 monthly average includes a three-week driving trip from Mexico to California to Kentucky, a week-long side trip with family members who visited us in Kentucky, and another three-week trip from Kentucky to New York City to Massachusetts. It includes lodging, eating out, gasoline, tourist activities. We don’t dine at expensive restaurants, but we do eat out on the road, as well as frequenting coffee shops. Then when we are in whatever location we currently call home, we mostly cook at home, enjoying whatever we desire made with good quality ingredients.

One thing missing from this analysis is what we spent when we were both working before we retired. Unfortunately, we did not track our expenses back then. However, I know we were spending everything we were earning, and not putting any more funds into savings than we are now.

The bottom line is, we are living very contentedly, seeing more places than we would have imagined, and spending less money than we expected!

*A note for those who don’t have a rent-free house available to them: in the town where we live, a small, bare bones, older apartment could be rented for as little as $20 per month. A more realistic living arrangement, but still below what most Americans are accustomed to, can be had for $150-$200 per month. Prices go up from there, and if you want to live in American-style comfort in a location frequented by tourists, it will cost significantly more, approaching American prices.

**While I consider the $1,880 monthly expense number to include “all” of our spending, there are a couple of things left out of this number:
• The mortgage on our house (primary residence) along with other expenses associated with homeownership. The reasoning for this is the house is rented out and the rent covers these costs. That’s a separate budget as I see it.
• Some of the remodel costs for the house in Mexico. I considered these as optional, one-time expenses, not ongoing living expenses.
• Tuition and living expenses for our kids in college. I consider these as temporary, and also not representative of our regular living expenses.
• We set aside some money into savings each month for large future expenses, such as when the car needs to be replaced. The amount set aside varies, and instead of including the amount of the savings in our budget, we would reflect the actual cost of any such expenses when they occur.

Molasses Update

For those who read my earlier post about molasses, i.e., it’s lack of availability in Mexico, rest assured that the situation is much better in Massachusetts. At the grocery store today there were at least four options. Note there was also a large selection of chocolate chips in the same shelf area, another item that is unavailable in Mexico.

New England

We parted ways with Maricela’s brother in New York City and headed to New England where we spent a week exploring around the area – Connecticut, Massachusetts, upstate New York, Vermont. We’ve run into snow flurries nearly every day, and it’s very cold (at least by my California standards). After all, we are halfway through April.

We found many places still “closed for the season”, and those that are open have shortened hours. We stopped by two state parks in Vermont to see if we could go for a little hike. One was completely closed. The other had a sign on the road at the entrance: “Snowmobiles only”. From what we’ve seen, most things don’t open for the season until May 31.

The trees are not budding yet, daffodils haven’t bloomed… It’s definitely still winter here.

Yesterday, today (April 16), and tomorrow we’re getting a mix of snow and freezing rain. Here’s the view outside our window this morning:

From what I hear, the next season we have to look forward to is “mud season”!

Weather forecast for the middle of April

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Today we got to visit a place in New York that has special meaning to me. At the turn of the century, my grandparents immigrated to New York from Scotland. My grandfather was a skilled stone carver and one of the projects he worked on was St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

We attended Easter mass here at the church today, as did thousands of others. There was quite a festive atmosphere, primarily outside the church, with large crowds and multiple street closures.

Below are some photos of the church – focusing on the stonework of course!

Blessings to all on this resurrection Sunday.

Crowds gathered outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral

NYC Subway vs. San Francisco BART

We arrived in New York City a couple of days ago. As we got close to the city, traffic was so bad that it took about an hour and a half to drive the last eight miles. This reinforced our decision to not drive in NYC again until we were leaving. So we parked the van and the next day we purchased a weekly pass for the subway system; that’s all we’ve been using to explore the city.

Our experience with New York City transit was very good. We visited in early spring, in late March, and it snowed a couple of times during the week we were there. Our AirBnB was within walking distance from at least two subway stations (there may have been another station on another line, but we never had a need to look for it). After a short walk to one of the stations, which was easy enough even when it was snowing, trains showed up quickly and brought us anywhere in the city. It took us about 45 minutes to get from our AirBnB to anywhere in Manhattan.

Having lived in the Bay Area and ridden BART – the Bay Area Rapid Transit system – for many years, it’s interesting to see the differences between the two subway systems. For the most part, I would rate the New York system as superior. Not just for the obvious reason that the NYC metro system is much more extensive than BART, but the daily user experience is a bit better in various ways too.

For example, look at the photo below. In many of the NYC train cars, there is a map of the line you’re on, and it has little lights to show what stops remain in the direction you’re headed. One by one they go out as you leave for the next station. Plus, announcements are made over the PA system in the trains and passengers can actually hear and understand what is being said; this is often not the case on BART.

A one-way ride to anywhere in NY costs $2.75. On BART a one-way ticket from Pleasanton to San Francisco costs about $6.50, and that’s not the most expensive ride. Alternatively, in NY you can purchase an unlimited weekly pass for $32.00, which allows as many on and off trips as you want. There’s no such thing as an unlimited pass on BART.

Most importantly, trains run very frequently. Some lines run every 2-5 minutes! On BART, the train to Pleasanton runs every 15-20 minutes, depending on whether it’s peak travel time or not.

Other small things:

In NY, you need to swipe your card to enter the station but not to exit. This speeds up the exit process over BART.
Noise – have you noticed that the noise on some BART cars is deafening? The NY train cars are much quieter; not so quiet you forget you’re on a train, but at least they won’t make you go deaf.
Why does BART insist on having padded seats? Padded seats are harder to keep clean and easier to vandalize. NY has traditional, hard plastic seats, which are fine for commuting and easier to maintain.

The main area where BART surpasses the NY subway is that the ClipperCard ticket system is nicer to use than paper tickets, which NY still relies on. And finally, as dirty as BART is, it seems to be slightly cleaner overall than the NY system.

We’re having a great time exploring New York by train!

New York City

From Philadelphia we went on to New York City. We drove to where we would be staying, at an AirBnB in the South Bronx, with a plan to leave the van parked there for the week and relying on public transportation. For the most part, this worked out fine. I had checked with the AirBnB host in advance regarding the parking situation, and they said there was “plenty” of free street parking in the neighborhood. What they didn’t mention is the parking restrictions – one side of the street was restricted from 9-11 am on Tuesdays, and the other side on Thursdays. So we had to move the van (i.e., search for parking) several times while we were there. However, despite the density of the housing, there seemed to be relatively more parking available than in Oakland, CA, where I worked for many years. My theory is that car ownership is expensive and inconvenient in New York City and there are a variety of public transit options available, so a smaller percentage of people own cars.

We parked our van and relied on public transportation

I am not a city person. I grew up in the suburbs in Southern California, and then as an adult I have spent my life in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area. I have worked for many years in Berkeley and Oakland, which are very urbanized, and while I enjoy the culture, the restaurants, museums, and the constant buzz of life in these cities, my real comfort zone is back home in the suburbs. Surprisingly to me, during our week in New York City, I found it to be very, what I call “liveable”. We met neighbors near our AirBnB in the Bronx, we found every type of food imaginable, we felt like we could get around to anywhere we wanted via public transit in a reasonable amount of time. We were impressed by the overall quality of life we experienced during our week in New York.

There is so much to see in New York that we didn’t even consider trying to fit everything in. We took our time visiting places we were interested in – the Metropolitan Museum, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center / 911 Memorial, Wall Street, Battery Park – and did our best to enjoy ourselves, without rushing through everything.

A beautiful, early spring day in Central Park

Two days later, Central Park was covered in snow

Brooklyn Bridge, without showing the crowds

A rose is placed on the names on the individuals’ birthdays

Philadelphia

When we left Niagara Falls, we planned a route south that took us through the amazing countryside of central Pennsylvania. I find this to be some of the most beautiful countryside in the world, with gentle rolling hills, small family farms, horse-and-buggies on the road, and many other great views. We passed through on our way to Philadelphia, where we only stayed there for two days. If I were to do it again, I would plan to spend additional time there. We found much more of interest in this area than we expected. Of course, this area is full of historical sites, but the art museums were also richly endowed. We only got a brief look at some of the sites, and hope to return again in the future.

Niagara Falls

Our next house sit will be in Massachusetts, and we have a two-week gap between when it starts and when our Kentucky sit ended. Maricela’s brother will be joining us as we travel around upstate New York, Philadelphia, and New York City. Then we will part ways and complete our drive to Massachusetts.

After driving through the snowstorm in Kentucky and Ohio, our first stop was at Niagara Falls in New York. The weather was great in Niagara; the only bad weather was on the drive to get there, not while walking around the tourist sites.

Niagara was more impressive than I had anticipated. I was expecting to be a bit disappointed by another over-hyped site that didn’t live up to expectations. But that was not the case. The Falls carry a massive amount of water – 20% of the drinking water for the East Coast passes through the Falls!

The other surprising thing to me was the river itself. It makes sense that for such massive falls, there must be a substantial river leading up to the falls. And the river is very accessible – you drive along it, park right next to it, walk out to it and cross over it. Some stretches have powerful rapids; you can really sense the magnitude of water passing through.

We visited at an interesting time of year. It was early March, when it’s very cold, which made for some interesting landscapes. There was no ice in the river, except for a little along the shores, but at the Falls themselves, since the Falls generate a lot of spray, the frozen spray settles onto the nearby cliffs and rocks and gives the Falls a whole different look than if we had visited during a warmer season. There was so much ice as a result of the spray that the observation decks below the falls were closed – they were inaccessible because they were buried by many feet of ice.

Lots of ice below the falls, including on the observation deck

While there we made a brief trip across the border to the Canadian side. We walked across, figuring it would be easier than taking the van across and back. The Canadian side had a more touristy and commercialized feel – large casinos, expensive restaurants, flashy gift shops, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not types of places – a whole different vibe. There were some on the US side as well, but it was more low key. I like to say that my favorite part of our visit to Canada was crossing the border back into the US!

International border, in the middle of the river

Goodbye Kentucky

During our last couple of days in Kentucky we received one of our heaviest snows yet, probably around 4 inches. Apparently this is what’s common for the area, and it melts off quickly. Heavy snowfall beyond 6 inches or so is uncommon.

Our house sit in Kentucky is complete and we will miss the lovely home we stayed in and the friendly dog. We will miss the peaceful quiet by the lake, and the pleasant walks around the forest and pastures. We had a great experience and made some new friends in the process.

We had never experienced a “real” winter before, besides visiting the snow occasionally for a day or two. In Kentucky we got to live out the winter for two months, which gave us a much better idea of what real winter is like. Snow was never much of an issue, since we didn’t have anywhere that we had to be. The house was always comfortable due to the type of radiant heat in the floors. The only times we were uncomfortable were when we had to go out somewhere and the air was bitter cold (to us that’s anything under about 35 degrees!) Overall we actually enjoyed winter in Kentucky – maybe because we know we can return to California any time.

We had to drive through heavy snowfall on our way out of Kentucky. For three or four hours we were driving through falling snow on slushy roads in Kentucky and Ohio. The slush was very wet and had accumulated at least 3-4 inches on the road. That’s not what this Californian is used to driving in, but we took it slow and made it safely to our destination.

We undertook this journey to meet new people, visit new places, and have new experiences. Our stay in Kentucky more than accomplished all of these goals!

Kentucky

We are spending two months house- and pet-sitting in central Kentucky. We are in a rural part of the state near Lexington. The house is a 250-year old log house, which was recently remodeled. The interior has been fully modernized, and the exterior is well maintained.

The house sits about 50 feet from a lake, on a large property with few neighbors.

The pet is a 6-year old English Springer Spaniel, with a very easygoing personality.

Even though it’s winter, the weather is often pleasant enough to sit out by the lake.

All in all, we’re having a great time on our first long-term sit!

Life on the Lake

Our first long-term sit is at a house on a lake in rural, central Kentucky. The house is about half a mile off a main road, and about 50 feet from the lake. We are in a 250-year old log house. We have a dog to look after while we are here, and we need to keep a watch on the pipes to ensure they don’t freeze during the winter.

See link below for a 1-minute video of the lake.

Use the following link for a 25% discount when signing up for TrustedHousesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF123171/

House Sitting

I heard an interview on a podcast a couple of years ago, of a guest who had spent several years traveling the world inexpensively by house sitting for others who were temporarily away from their homes. That led Maricela and me to look into it further.

We found there are several websites that connect house sitters with those needing the service. In about 99% of cases, the homeowner has one or more pets, which is the primary reason they need someone to stay at their house while they are away. A house itself can usually be left alone, but not so for pets that aren’t able to travel with their owners. The ability for the pet to stay at home in familiar surroundings is a much better experience for the pet than to leave them in a dog kennel, for example.

We also found there are a wide variety of sits available – short term (a weekend), long term (some are 6 months or even a year), domestic, international (Europe and Australia are popular), dogs, cats, even some with farm animals.

Maricela and I signed up on a website while we were still in California, and did a couple of house sits while we were working, to try it out. We wanted to get a feel for it while we were close to home.

Once we were in Mexico, we checked the listings occasionally. There aren’t as many listings in Mexico, but eventually we found one in Mexico City, about four hours away from where we were staying. So we traveled to Mexico City for ten days. While there we were responsible for taking care of three dogs and two cats. They could be left alone for several hours during the daytime, giving us ample time to explore the city. It worked out great for both us and the home/pet owners and the pets, and it reaffirmed the experience we had in California.

As mentioned in another post, we checked to see if there were any interesting listings in the US, since we had to leave Mexico at least briefly to renew our visas. We liked one we found in Kentucky, and that’s where we are currently.

The website we go through is TrustedHousesitters.com. There is an annual fee to join and to be able to see the full listings, although it does allow non-members to see some information. The last time I checked, the fee was $119 per year. If anyone is interested, use the following link for a 25% discount: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF123171/

Let us know if you try it out!

A Detour

Last summer we left Pleasanton to move to Mexico. Not necessarily permanently, but for several years at least. As a friend of ours put it, we’re not moving permanently, but we’re also not purchasing a return ticket.

Our first stint in Mexico lasted almost five months. Since we’re on a tourist visa, we are required to leave Mexico within 180 days. And since we drove, our vehicle also must cross the border within the same time frame. We can re-enter Mexico at any time, even the same day, and have another 180 days. The point is that we knew we were going to have to drive out of Mexico at some point within the first six months, we just had to figure out exactly when we would exit as well as when we would return.

As I’ve said to many people, our time in Mexico has been better than expected. We visit people often, we have plenty of time to spend with each other and by ourselves, we enjoy the slower pace, the food is amazing – the list goes on. However, as we started planning our trip to cross the border, we started considering other experiences we might pursue. One thing we had tried previously in both the US and Mexico is house/pet sitting. We said to each other, we don’t have any permanent commitments yet in Mexico – no chickens or goats, no gardens to take care of, etc. – so let’s see if there are any house sitting opportunities that sound interesting.

We looked toward the central US – our kids are on opposite coasts, and we’ve never spent time any further east than Colorado. The most interesting sit that came up was in Kentucky. We’ve never been there, so why not give it a try? We applied for the sit and were selected. Due to the needs of the home/pet owners, it meant we needed to return from Mexico a few weeks earlier than originally planned. We took care of affairs in Mexico, headed to California to visit family and friends, then drove on to Kentucky.

US-Mexico map with overview of our travels

We have not abandoned our plans to return to Mexico but, as the title of this post suggests, we are taking a detour before returning again. We want to make the most of our newfound freedom and explore other places. We are blessed by good health, and we are able to keep our expenses low, both of which help make this possible.

One anecdote about our travels – on our way to Kentucky we drove through the Petrified Forest National Park. As we were enjoying the winding roads and the amazing scenery, Maricela summed up our situation by saying, “Or, we could return to cubicle life!” Our minimalist lifestyle that makes our travels possible is not for everyone, but for us, it’s much more satisfying than the alternative!

Tree bridge in Petrified Forest National Park

Off-Roading in the Minivan

Before we left California we bought a used minivan with 90,000 miles on it. Since then, we’ve driven it about 12,000 miles across the US and Mexico. I have to say, despite all the abuse we’ve thrown at it, it has held up very well.

I’ve mentioned that the roads in some parts of Mexico are in poor condition. In some places we have to travel on dirt roads. One of them is up to our uncle’s house. Our uncle and aunt have lived there for over 40 years, and they and their neighbors have lobbied for years to get the road paved, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Here’s a short video of us driving up the road in the minivan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s0Q0CUNd34

Traveling Photographer

Documenting our Adventures

Month: October 2019